Smiles

Anabelle's big cheesin' smiles haven't been quite as frequent, especially in photos, lately. She's toughed out two ear infections, a yucky cold and now is cutting both top teeth. She gives us plenty of smiles and giggles and belly laughs, still, but when the camera comes out they disappear.

Thankfully, though, I've learned to play peek-a-boo behind my camera to get her to smile. Here is my sweetie loving her Cheerios.

It's been 3 months since she started cereal. (Please note she is wearing the same top three months ago! She might be starting to average out now.) These days, her meal options are endless. Mike made delicious guacamole for the Colts' game Sunday, which may just be Anabelle's favorite food! She loves flavor, just like her daddy. She also loves chicken, cheese, yogurt, bananas, whole wheat tortillas and any other food she can feed herself. It's so much fun!

Playdate

Last week Anabelle and I had our first play date to the Children's Museum. I was so excited to take her there because I remember my mom taking us there many, many times growing up. The day started off with much entertainment because I drove the Land girls. Three carseats in my back seat. As Katie said, we now know that we can have twins next and we'll be able to easily fit them in the backseat. *cough, cough LOUDER, Ain't. Gonna. Happen.* But the girls were pretty cute squished together, and they did very well back there.
(The next day, however, we rode together to MOPS. Afterwards, the girls sang us a beautiful symphony of cry, whine, chat. It was a bit overwhelming to imagine that as a normal event.)

Back to the Museum. The Barbie exhibit is in town, and Sarah loves it. She must get it honestly, because this is how I found the mommy/daughters...

Sonya and Connor went with us, too. Sonya has been a bit concerned about Connor getting a girl-complex, because he is the only boy in a baby boom of girl babies. While we were in the Barbie complex, she made sure he had the manly job of mixing the music while the girls walked down the runway.

Anabelle appreciated DJ Connor's work, while she worked the Barbie runway.

Then we hit baby playland. Jackpot! She loved it. Everything was just her size, just her height and just perfect to chew on. Her bathtime friend (from the mirror) was even there.

I loved playing in the water with her. It was even more special when my mom said she has this same picture with me, in the same type of smock, playing in the water. Anabelle loves water. We may need one of these at home.

And the girl has a sporty side, just like her daddy. In fact, Mike has this same picture of him at 5 years old, driving the Indy car. (We also took one of him two years ago in the same position... wish I could find it!)

I had to get in, too. It looked like so much fun.

Success! Our playdate at the Children's Museum was great. The mommies, I mean kids, had so much fun and were wonderful for us. Can't wait to go back!

Love to Love You Baby

We can't get enough of our sweet girl these days. It's so hard to believe she's been here for eight months! The amount of change that happens in 8 months is incredible, and we are continuing to cherish every second of it. Pretty soon, she's going to take off on her little hands and knees, and we are going to be in a whole other world. We enjoy every second, but we also look forward to each stage that is to come. As Mike looked back on my blog posts of late, the song "When God Made You" was playing. It was the song for our first dance at our wedding reception. I wonder what God was thinking, when He created you. I wonder if He knew everything I would need, because He made all my dreams come true. When God made you, He must have been thinking about me. That song still resonates with me about my incredible husband. But it also has another special meaning that relates to our amazing daughter. I know God created her specifically with us in mind. And I will pray for the next 25+ years that her future husband will feel the exact same way.

LET'S GO COLTS!

8 Months Old

The girl is SO busy, this is the best we could get without her eating or annihilating the paper. The bunny is below her shoulder! Remember seven months ago....

Tutus

A friend from high school and I have reconnected since we moved back to Greenfield. She
brought her 10 month old over for a play date and asked if she could shoot some photos of
Anabelle. This tutu was a gift from Papa & Mimi for Christmas and was still sitting out in our
front room. Amy asked if she could use it, and look at these amazing shots she got!

Stunning! I can't wait to have a house of our own to frame these on our walls.

If You're a Mom...

If you're a mom, you MUST check out www.diapers.com. I love it! I compared the price I could pay in any store for diapers and wipes in bulk, and this site comes within $2 of my wipes and matches the price of my diapers. Plus, they often have a few dollars off. Plus, you can send in any manufacturers' coupons to apply to your orders. Plus, you get ten bucks off your first order, which is huge! PLUS, free shipping when you spend $49 or more.

Diapers.com has every possible child-related item you can think of. I've shopped for diapers, wipes, food, toothbrushes, creams, clothes, toys and more. I just love it. And your order will arrive in less than 48 hours. Beats a trip to the store any day!

If you do order, I would love for you to use my referral number. It is BIZ0518. When you do, you'll get $10 off your first order. I'm amazed by how much I love ordering from this place. Check it out!! www.diapers.com


p.s. It's also fun to look back at your order history, if you're buying diapers, to watch how your little one grew. Anabelle grew SO quickly at the beginning, she has been in the same size diapers now since August!

Giggly Girl

Our sweetie is full of smiles and laughs. She's even discovered a toothy smile that doesn't show off her tonsils. Some are accompanied with her signature nose scrunch, and then your heart just melts. One of her favorite games for a while has been Peek A Boo. It entertains her to no end! Even more entertaining is when the "Peek a Boo-er" is extra dramatic with the game. If you watch, after 25 seconds, I got more dramatic (which you can't see) and she started cracking up more (which you will thoroughly enjoy).

We do just about anything we can think of to make her smile and laugh!

Snow Week

It's been a long week. Anabelle is feeling much better, thankfully. Her tummy is still battling the second round of antibiotics, so she's not 100%, but she is close. Her test results all came back normal, too, so it was just ear infections! We got a lot of snuggle time in the past two weeks, and she has become quite close to her carseat, having slept in it every night since before Christmas. I think she really likes the comfort and closeness it provides.

The week has been long, though, because we've been snowed in! It has been far too cold, and my baby has been too sick to even think about going outside. By Friday, I needed new activities. So, I shot some photos. The sun cooperated. So did Anabelle. And I give you these. You can tell she isn't up to par because there are no smiles. But I love the serious faces. She's very serious a lot of the time!

Our House, is a Very Very Very Fine House

... well, not quite. But here's our lot (to the right of the lamp post)! We will be living HERE in the not-so-distant future!
We will be breaking ground on ... (drum roll, please) ... Thursday!! Praise God!

Christmas Excitement

I am on an uploading videos kick, so bear with me. Here is the reason why Christmas morning was so wonderful. She got so excited over her gifts, and especially this book we got her! So precious...

Shakin Things Up

Anabelle has learned to shake her head "no," and it is hilarious when she does so. It started mid-November, when Mike was shaking his head no, and she mimicked him. Since then, she mimics it often and even more often just starts shaking her head back and forth. We can't help but laugh out loud, which I'm sure just encourages her more. It's been a challenge to actually capture it on camera, since she becomes so enamored with the camera and forgets everything else. But I caught it! Laugh along with us!

Our Christmas

Christmas was SO MUCH FUN this year! Anabelle could open her presents, get excited about them and enjoy her new toys. She was the perfect age to add an incredible amount of joy and excitement to our day. Just look at how much she loved tearing into her gifts:
We started the morning out by waking up in our own beds for the first time since I've known Mike. A wonderful thing! We had a mix of traditional Campbell & Mack Christmas morning breakfasts, and Anabelle enjoyed some yummy rice cereal and applesauce. Since we live next door to my parents right now, they came over with Auntie Abby to watch Anabelle open her gifts. She loved it! She got a few books, which she went crazy over! Hope to share video of that soon.
And her big gift from daddy and mommy was a LeapFrog musical learning table. It was fun to open and so much more fun to play with!
I think she would agree, it was a good morning!That afternoon, we went to my parents' for our Christmas celebration, and Aunt Rachie and Shaun joined us. We, of course, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus first and read the Christmas story in the Bible. We look forward to teaching Anabelle about the real reason for Christmas!

Then, it was gift time. Mimi and Papa got her a leopard purse. (I may have helped pick it out.) She is ready to shop!And, of course, she had to have her own remote control. She tries to eat them whenever she sees one, so now she has her own to chew on.

Lots of other thoughtful and wonderful gifts were exchanged, but we tried to enjoy the moments rather than take pictures of all of them.

I think this sums up our Christmas this year:

Wonderful, amazing and a miracle from God!

Not Just Sleepy

Sleepiness is a result of sickness. We are now on round #2 of antibiotics for this ear infection (or a second one). Her fever spiked at 104.5 today. She was extremely lethargic and slept in my arms most of the day.

The doctor thinks everything checks out fine, other than fever and feeling bad, but after her illness this summer, we aren't taking any chances. They're going to have some tests run on her urine to check for infection. Please pray that Anabelle's body can fight these infections to a point of non-existance. She needs comfort from the pain and fever, as well as strength to fight whatever it is that is attacking her!

Sleepyhead

We're wondering if Anabelle is going through a growth spurt or if she is still recovering from the ear infection... Two nights in a row, now, she has gone to bed before 7 PM, without her usual nighttime feeding, and slept straight through until almost 8 AM! The girl is a sleeper, there is no denying that.